In re Vogel
Court of Customs and Patent Appeals
422 F.2d 438 (1970)
Relevant factsFree
Vogel (applicant) filed a January 1964 patent application on a meat-preservation process while a related, earlier-filed application on a similar meat-preservation method was pending and issued in March 1964. The patent examiner rejected the January application's claims as obvious over the March patent plus a single prior art reference, treating it as an improper attempt to double-patent the same invention; the Patent Office Board of Appeals affirmed, and Vogel appealed.
IssueFree
Whether double patenting applies to claims distinguished from earlier-filed claims by the same inventor by only a non-obvious but minor variation.